Koncz says Pacquiao might retire

By Boxing News - 05/10/2015 - Comments

Floyd Mayweather vs Manny PacquiaoBy Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao’s future in the sport is still up in the air at this point following his loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. last week, and his subsequent shoulder surgery to repair an injury that he came into the fight with. Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz says that the Filipino fighter may choose to quit rather than continue his boxing career.

Koncz notes that Pacquiao has been fighting a long time, and if he were to retire, he could spend more time with his family members.

“We might even retire (from boxing),” Koncz said via tempo.com.ph. “He’s been in boxing for a long time and it’s time for him to spend time with his family.”

Well, I’m sure Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum will have something to say about whether Pacquiao retires or not. Arum has been talking about wanting to put Pacquiao back in with Mayweather for a rematch next year.

Things were looking like the soon to be 37-year-old Pacquiao would get the rematch until Mayweather closed the door on it after hearing about Pacquiao’s excuses for his loss. Unless Arum can get Mayweather to change his mind, then Pacquiao is going to need to go in another direction for his next fight in 2016 if he continues to fight.

It’ll look potentially bad if Pacquiao retires off of a loss to Mayweather because Pacquiao didn’t fight well, and he didn’t come off in the best light after the fight in saying that he thought he should have been given the victory. The revelation by Pacquiao of the preexisting right shoulder injury was icing on the cake. That really made him look bad because many people didn’t believe it, and a lot of the others did believe it were angry that he would choose to enter the ring for such an important fight with a serious shoulder injury.

In the minds of a lot of fans, Pacquiao went through with the fight out of greed for the big payday that he was going to get rather than because he didn’t want to let down the fans. But if Pacquiao quits off the loss to Mayweather, it’s going to give some fans the impression that he cashed out with the Mayweather fight. Some fans will see Pacquiao as a quitter, and just a money hungry fighter.

“If Manny decides to retire, that would be happiest day of my life,” Koncz said.

I wonder if Arum and Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach will feel the same way. If Pacquiao retires, they’ll both be losing a huge revenue stream with his fights. There isn’t anyone that can replace Pacquiao in Arum’s Top Rank stable. WBO light welterweight champion Terence Crawford, one of Arum’s fighters, is a high quality champion, but I don’t see him ever becoming a PPV attraction. Arum is going to try to make him one I bet, but I don’t see it happening. Roach doesn’t have anyone that brings in the kind of green that Pacquiao does in the guys that he trains. Roach trains WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto, but I’d be surprised if Cotto lasts another two years in the sport. Once he gets in the ring with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and/or Gennady Golovkin, I see him likely hanging the gloves shortly afterwards. Those are the only two guys left that Cotto can fight unless Mayweather gives him a rematch, which is doubtful.



Comments are closed.